Edmonton Oilers vs Washington Capitals

Game Day 17: Oilers at Capitals

Early within the second interval of their recreation at Washington tonight, Edmonton Oilers’ 2017-18 season might be 20% full. That’s a very articificial threshold in fact, however thequantity signifies that the season has handed that partthe placeit may bethought-about “younger”, and that outcomes that differ from expectations can now not be considered aberrations. Which is unquestionably a worrisome thought for followers of the Oilers, struggling together with a 6-9-1 file that finds them mired 5factors — and 6groups — beneath the playoff cutline within the Western Convention. Solely the Oilers and the brutal Arizona Coyotes have a filebeneath .500 within the West, whereas the Oilers purpose differential of -13 is no less than 10 (ten) objectives worse than all 13groupsforward of them.Sufficientissuesto contemplate to fill a number of columns, so as we speakwe'll focus simply on the Oilers’ efficiency on the street, the place they sport a superficially respectable file of Three-Three-1 in comparison withan unsightlyThree-6-Zeroof theirresidence barn. A number of the splits are excessivesufficient that one would possiblysurprisein the event that theyhave been produced by the identicalworkforce.
One the street the Oilers have performeda way more close-to-the-vest fashion, one low-scoring recreation after one other. Yesterday’s Four-2 loss to New York Rangers was the primary time as many as six wholeobjectiveshave been scored in an away recreation, courtesy a meaningless empty-netter within thefinal second of play. In any other case it’s been an extended string of 2-1 and Three-2 video games, with no fewer than 4 of the seven determined in additional time. A number of the bonus durations have been gloriously thrilling, however the 60 minutes previous them have typically been painful to observe.Certainly, the Oilers haven'tgained a streetrecreation outright, with all three of their wins coming in additional time. (Put one otherapproach, their opponents’ mixedfile is Four-Zero-Three.) In regulation time they've been getting good goaltending and first rate penalty-killing (till yesterday, no less than) however offence has been skinny on the bottom. Listed below are the objectives scored by recreation in regulation: 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2.

On the primary three-game roadie the Oilers had one line going. Of the three regulation-time objectives the Oilers mustered in 180 minutes, the primary line did all theinjury. Patrick Maroon was concerned in all three objectives and Connor McDavid two.
This time round it’s been the second line that’s been producing. Of the 5 regulation-time objectives scored on the journey, Milan Lucic has 4factors and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins three. Leon Draisaitl managed a purpose on a uncommon shift with these two gamers, whereas McDavid has a powerplay purpose. Earlier than we heap an excessive amount of criticism on these two let’s take a secondto recollectthe 2sensibleadditional time winners they mixed on to complete off the Islanders and Devils, however thetruthstays that in regulation time they've largely been held in verify with only oneleveleverywithin thefinal4video games.Associated: Maroon, beforehandscorching, has been mired in a four-game pointless streak. To those eyes the road has largely performed on the perimeter the place they fairlymerelyhaven't been efficient. Worse, Maroon damage his membership yesterday on two key performs away from the puck: a half-hearted backcheck on the primary Rangers purpose which successfully broadened the passing lane, permitting Rick Nash to holdagain on the play for an all-too-easy conversion; then a horrible penalty alongsidethe tip boards 200 ft from his personalweba few minutes after Edmonton’s fragile penalty kill had been burned for the tying purpose. Wham. Burned once more, this time for the purpose that determinedthe sport. Sufficient to earn Maroon the dreaded “1” grade from colleague David Staples yesterday. Dangerousvideo gamesoccur for all gamers, in fact. Ask Oscar Klefbom, who struggled mightily in defensive zone protection yesterday. Or Leon Draisaitl, who was half a bubble off plumb all recreationlengthy and obtained little achieved. When a handful of highgamerswrestle in the identicalrecreation, a workforce’s possibilities of success are minimal. Identical goes for instances when just one line is producing, as has been the case for Edmonton on approach too many nights.The underside six has been MIA by way of offence — solely tweener Ryan Strome (16, 2-Three-5, -Four) has greater thanThreefactors on the season, and all however Brad Malone (6 GP, Zero-Zero-Zero, even) are beneath the water-line in conventional plus-minus. Coach Todd McLellan didn’t mince phrases in his game-day avail this morning: “Now we have ten gamerswithin thebackside six which have scored about two [even-strength] objectiveswhole. That’s disappointing, flat-out disappointing. We anticipatedmuch more from eacha type of guys.”
The defence corps is equally unproductive: high scorer Kris Russell (!) ranks 84th within the NHL with 5 factors in 16 video games. No different Oiler is listed within thehigh 100. To say that the membership badly misses Andrej Sekera at each ends of the rink is an understatement.
With mainlyall the offence concentrated within thehigh six, the Oilers desperately wanteach of thesetraces to be productive on a nightly foundation. Both that, or return to the (road-)recreation plan of grinding by means of a 1-1 tie for 60 minutes earlier than unleashing the canine in additional time. Tillone thingmodifications, it’s onerous to be overly optimistic about this group’s long-term outlook.

Tonight’s line-up

The large change for as we speak’s recreation is the insertion of backup netminder Laurent Brossoit into the line-up. Brossoit hasn’t seen a minute of recreationmotion since permitting 5 objectives on simply 21 photographs vs. Carolina in his solelyearlierbeginapproachagain on October 17. However with the Oilers lastlyenjoying their first back-to-back of the season, McLellan is following what has turn out to betypicalteachingtechniquewithin the NHL.
LB will face a Washington workforcea bittotally different from the one which captured the previous two Presidents’ Trophy titles, however which nonethelessoptionsloads of firepower. The Caps convincingly beat the Oilers in Edmonton simply two weeks in the past, and have rolled off three consecutive victories on residence ice since that point. Of theirmost up-to-daterecreation, a Four-1 win over Pittsburgh, they linkedfor two powerplay objectives. Given the Oilers ongoing woes’ on the penalty-killing entrance, staying out of the fieldmight be key.
Up entrance, McLellan mentioned his restrictedchoiceson this morning’s avail, particularlythe shortage of scoring help from the wings to help deploying his all three of his most gifted gamers at centre. “Till we see a bitlittle bit of life [from the bottom six], we’ll maintain the tracesthe best waythey're.” When establishment is the best choice for a membership mired in a goal-scoring drought, that’s not a superbsignal.
On the brilliantaspect, current call-up Jesse Puljujarvi stepped into the line-up yesterday and performednearly as good a recreation as any of the younger right-wing candidates has since no less than Kailer Yamamoto’s stabledisplaying in Chicago final month. He skated nicely and took benefitof each opporunity to shoot the puck with 11 shot makes an attempt, 5 of them on purpose and 1 of them in purpose. The infusion of dimension plus velocity up entrance was a sight for sore eyes. To riff off an earlier theme, good video gamesoccur for all gamers, the querymight beconsidered one ofmaintain. Puljujarvi is presently the survivor of a battle of attrition that noticed Yamamoto despatchedagain to junior earlier than the streetjourney, then noticed first Drake Caggiula, then Anton Slepyshev fail to complete a recreation on 2RW as a consequence ofdamage. Each are out, so for now the trailis evident for JP to consolidate Saturday’s efficiency.One of the bestinformation for Oilers followers? This one isn’t a day affair the place the Oilers are Zero-Three-Zero with simplyThreeobjectives for, 10 in opposition to, neither is is being performed on a Saturday, the placethey'reZero-5-Zero with eight GF, 20 GA. Thank the heavens for small mercies!